Challenges facing our changing earth
Cookham: First wildlife art festival will highlight climate change
Reinforcing the challenges faced by the world due to climate change and environmental damage is the aim of Cookham’s first wildlife art festival.
The festival, officially titled Our Changing Earth will be kicking off with an opening night on Friday, June 9 and running across the weekend of Saturday, June 10 and Sunday, June 11.
The festival, which is being staged by WildCookham, is the brainchild of Leysa Henderson, a local artist, children’s author, and Trust Technique practitioner.
The aim of the festival is to, in an engaging and creative way, reinforce to the local community the nature of the challenge faced as a result of climate change and environmental damage.
More than 90 artists, both local and international are participating, with some 300 artworks spanning a range of media being showcased.
The event will take place at the John Lewis Partnership’s Odney Club in Cookham.
As well as the showcasing of artwork, a host of other free activities
including talks, workshops, quizzes, and nature trails will also be taking place.
The festival is open to attendees from 10am to 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
Friday’s opening event will provide an early chance for people to see and buy the art available.
It will also include talks by three environmentalists, Jan Stannard, founder of Heal Rewilding, Peter Gibbs, BBC weather forecaster and presenter; and Estelle Bailey, chief executive of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT).
The festival, which is described as a space ‘where art meets science’ has received funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, Louis Baylis Charitable Trust, The Prince Philip Trust Fund, and Cookham Festival.
Leysa said: [Our aim] to tell a strong environmental narrative to inspire, educate and entertain.”
All participating artists have been asked to provide the story behind each of their artworks, many of which will be on sale.
She added: "We want people to understand more fully just how we need to relate to the natural world.”
“It’s for visitors interested in either art, science or nature, or just interested in finding out more [about] how we can make changes.”
Mike Copland, chair of WildCookham, said: “We had been thinking for some time about staging a big public event so when Leysa came to us with her highly creative idea we were delighted and gave it our full support.’
“We hope that it will open people’s minds to the major climate and other challenges we face. Developing new technologies is only a part of the solution.
“Perhaps more important, humans need to understand more fully how we relate to the rest of the natural world and our place in it. Art can help us achieve that.”
Tickets for the festival can be found at ourchangingearth.co.uk